Tony descended the back steps of John Jameson's guest house, his eyes already scanning the expanse of field, looking for Gibbs. After two months and a second visit, making this number three, the place was just beginning to feel familiar. Comfortable. Tony usually settled in to new surroundings faster than that, but he was willing to cut himself some slack, given how much else he'd had to adjust to at the same time.

Nervously, he shifted his grip on the gym bag he held in one hand. It wasn't hard to find Gibbs. Completely aside from the fact that he was hard to miss while he was in centaur form, he had set up only a couple dozen meters from the back door. And set up was the right word. Tony stopped and blinked in surprise, taking in the tableau for a moment.

Gibbs had stacked half a dozen bales of hay--presumably borrowed from Jameson's stable--to one side. Pinned to them was a brightly colored archery target, concentric circles converging on a bullseye. Gibbs himself stood some distance away from the target, a quiver of arrows slung across his naked torso and a long bow gripped in one hand.

If looks could kill, the glare Gibbs was directing at his target would have set it alight. Four arrows protruded from the hay bale, three of them neatly piercing the two outer rings of the target. Only the fourth had gotten anywhere near the bull's-eye. Tony couldn't help the grin that touched his lips at the sight. Gibbs was a crack shot with every firearm Tony had ever seem him handle, but a weapon that had been relegated to the status of hobby by modern arms had apparently thwarted him.

Glancing back at Gibbs, a teasing comment rising to his lips, Tony was just in time to see the centaur raise the bow, nock an arrow, and draw. The muscles in Gibbs's back, arms, and shoulders sprang into sharp relief. His torso leaned back a little, his hooves planted to brace him against the pull of the weapon. He held the pose for a moment, balancing the pull of the bow and sighting along the shaft of the arrow. Even in profile, Gibbs's gaze was intent and focused, a perfect complement to the power etched explicitly on his body and framed by the curve of the bow and the point of his elbow.

The arrow flew from the bow without warning, thwacking into the bale of hay solidly. Tony watched, breath caught in his throat, as Gibbs's back and arms relaxed into their ordinary smooth lines again. The strength was still there, but understated now.

Mentally kicking himself back into gear, Tony approached slowly, making sure not to startle Gibbs. Chances were the man had known he was there from the moment he'd stepped down off the porch, but he was focusing pretty intensely. Tony wasn't about to startle an armed Gibbs, even he was only armed with bow and arrow.

Gibbs loosed another arrow as Tony approached and then stepped out of his shooting stance, lowering the bow. "Tony," Gibbs greeted him, frowning across the field at the target.

"Didn't take you for the archery type, boss," Tony said casually. Idly, he bounced the handles of the gym bag in his hand.

"I'm not, entirely," Gibbs spared the target another scowl. "As you can see. It's been years since I last tried this."

"So why try again now?" Tony asked curiously, looking to see how the last two arrows had fared. Both had struck the third ring from the outside. It was an improvement, but one that apparently didn't satisfy Gibbs.

Gibbs started toward the target. Tony had to lengthen his stride uncomfortably, but he kept pace all right. "It's a centaur's traditional weapon," Gibbs said. "Not all of us keep it up, but if you and Ducky are going to keep pushing me to indulge my nature, it only seems appropriate." They reached the target and Gibbs started pulling the arrows out and replacing them in the quiver.

"It's not an indulgence," Tony said firmly. "You've told me yourself--this is what you are. Who you are." He paused, his eyes taking on a sudden twinkle. "Trust you to go straight for the weapons when you want to reconnect with your history."

Gibbs snorted and gave the bow a long look before leaning it against the side of the hay bales. "If I'm going to get serious about this, I'll need a bow properly sized for me," he said. His eyes went back to Tony, taking in the bag he held. "Were you looking for me for something specific?"

Tony hesitated. "Yeah," he admitted eventually. He unzipped the bag and hesitated, one hand feeling around inside. "Listen, I know you're not a horse," he said hurriedly, "but I was trying to think of something I could do for you while you're like this, and this was all I could think of." Looking down so he wouldn't have to see Gibbs's immediate reaction, Tony pulled a pair of brushes out of the gym bag.

He'd gone to a store that sold all sorts of "equine care" products--who knew there were so many options for horse hair care--but he hadn't been able to bring himself to buy anything for Gibbs that was intended for an animal. It felt almost insulting. So he'd gone out and found a store that sold ridiculously expensive hair brushes and found a handleless pair with bristles that seemed the right texture and density, judging by the nicer brushes Tony had seen at the first store. The clerk had given him a strange look for buying two, but...he wanted to use both his hands.

Now, holding them in his hands under Gibbs's gaze, Tony felt incredibly embarrassed. He couldn't bring himself to look up at his lover.

"Brushes..."

Gibbs's voice was oddly soft and anticipatory. Tony finally managed to haul his eyes up to look at Gibbs. The expression in the centaur's eyes was so warm Tony couldn't help but smile. "I take it I didn't screw up?" he asked tentatively.

"Definitely not," Gibbs assured him. He shifted his weight, a movement that sent a ripple through his lower body and ended in a quick twitch of his tail. After a minute he shifted his weight again.

Tony belatedly realized that Gibbs was fighting down a restless eagerness. He held up the brushes, "Should I start?"

"Ah," Gibbs said, lifting his chin for a moment. "I should warn you...centaurs have a very particular reaction to being brushed." Tony raised his eyebrows and Gibbs met his gaze, blue eyes darkening with what Tony quickly realized was arousal. "I'm going to fall asleep," he said, "and wake up ready to nail you to the ground."

"Oh," Tony answered, a slow grin taking over his expression. "As long as you change first," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

Gibbs snorted his laughter. "Go get a blanket and the rest," he advised. "I'm not going to want to wait."

After a quick trip to their bedroom to retrieve the comforter from the bed and condoms and lube from the night stand, Tony rejoined Gibbs in the field. He was just finishing spreading the blanket out when it hit him when the realization dawned on him: he was planning to have sex in the middle of a field. In the open. With Gibbs. Tony glanced nervously at Jameson's house, some distance away, even as a little thrill ran through him.

I'm not an exhibitionist, Tony swore to himself, but he couldn't help the flush of heat that he felt when he looked up to find Gibbs watching him intently.

"DiNozzo. Brushes," Gibbs reminded him impatiently.

"Shouldn't we move a little closer to the house?" Tony asked weakly.

Gibbs took a step towards him and God, the way the man moved when he was in centaur form was enough all on its own to get Tony's blood rushing and his mouth dry. "No," Gibbs said firmly.

"Okay then," Tony murmured. He picked the brushes up off the blanket, settled his grip on their oval backings, and made one experimental stroke along Gibbs's coat, starting at his waist and following the grain of the fine hairs over his withers and down his back. The skin under his hand twitched violently and Tony paused. "Boss?"

"Keep going," Gibbs ordered, his voice a bit rough around the edges.

Tony swallowed and went back to work, this time with both hands. Gibbs was utterly silent, but when Tony looked up to check on him, his head was bowed and his breath stuttered unsteadily through his parted lips. Under Tony's hands, he slowly grew more and more relaxed, until the younger man glanced up and, as promised, found Gibbs fast asleep, the tension gone even from his neck and shoulders.

Setting the brushes aside, Tony dropped down to sit on the comforter and contemplated his sleeping lover for a moment. He'd never seen Gibbs look so completely at ease before. A little rush of pride went through Tony that he'd been the one to do that for Gibbs. He'd gotten the man this relaxed. And if what Gibbs had said was true, he was going to wake up as excited as he was now peaceful.

Suddenly, Tony smiled wickedly at the oblivious centaur. If Gibbs was going to wake up hot and ready to go, he ought to be prepared, right?

Sparing one last glance for the main house, Tony shucked his clothing, picked up the lube, and lay back on the blanket. Deftly, he flipped up the cap and slicked up his fingers. Practice makes perfect, he thought, biting his lip as he pressed one finger inside himself, and I've had a lotof practice. There hadn't been that many men before Gibbs--it was just too dangerous--but Tony wasn't the type to deny himself something that he enjoyed. Not when there were dildos that could do the job.

Panting, Tony resisted the urge to stroke his cock as he opened himself up with a second finger. Wouldn't want to be too far along when Gibbs comes to, he thought, chuckling breathlessly.

He'd just managed a third finger when he looked up to see Gibbs's eyes snap open. The centaur gave a whole body shudder and then he was human and falling to his knees on the blanket. Tony barely had time to pull his fingers free before Gibbs yanked him up off the blanket, seized his face in both hands, and kissed him so hard that Tony's mouth hurt. Moaning, Tony did his best to kiss back, struggling to keep up with the intensity of Gibbs's hunger.

As abruptly as he'd been pulled up off the blanket for the kiss, Gibbs now bore him back down onto it. Tony fumbled for the condoms, catching a moan in his throat as Gibbs took his thighs in strong hands and pushed them back towards Tony's chest, exposing him more thoroughly than the wide open space ever could. "Gibbs," Tony gasped, fingers shaking as he discarded the condom's wrapper. "Boss, you've got to wait a second."

"Hurry," Gibbs grated, his eyes so dark with hunger they were almost black. His hands kneaded Tony's legs almost absently.

Awkwardly, Tony rolled the condom onto him. He barely had a chance to lie back before Gibbs drove inside with one fast, hard thrust. Tony cried out, hands fisting in the comforter. God, so full, the sudden stretch of it almost too much. The burning in his ass should have hurt, but fuck, it was just heat and sensation and Tony was so hard he couldn't believe he was so close so soon.

Gibbs was already moving, not giving him any time at all to get used to it. Tony wasn't sure he wanted to get used to it. Distantly, he could hear himself moaning, "oh god, oh god, oh god," over and over again, but it didn't seem real. Nothing seemed real except Gibbs's cock moving inside him and the hands holding him open and the smell of sweat and musk and sex.

Then Gibbs leaned closer, bending him almost in half, and spoke a single word, his voice low and intent and certain:

"Mine."

And all Tony could do was moan and press his head back against the ground because how could he argue with that here, spread out on the ground, in the open, with Gibbs inside him and over him, his whole body burning with how good it was? It was true. He did belong to Gibbs.

Tony heard a sob of pleasure or need or something and knew it was him. He hooked his legs over Gibbs's shoulder and urged the man on, wanting even more than this, because if he was going to take Tony then he damned well better take everything.

"Mine," Gibbs growled again.

This time Tony could answer him. "Yes," he said helplessly. "Yes."

Gibbs shuddered all over and thrust harder and deeper and, Christ, Tony hadn't thought there could be more, but there it was. He dug his heels into Gibbs's back and clutched heavily at the blanket spread beneath them, struggling to lift his hips to meet the fierce rhythm. Giving his hips a little twist, Tony helped Gibbs find the sweet spot inside him and shouted when Gibbs struck it. Fuck, but it was like fireworks going off inside him. So good.

Tony screwed himself on Gibbs's cock as the man fucked him, finding that spot inside again and again. Tony's whole body wound tighter and tighter. Sweat beaded on his skin and trickled down the bend of groin and knee and the arch of his throat, but it did nothing to cool the heat sparked by Gibbs's hands and cock, filling him up until Tony thought there was nothing left inside him but Gibbs.

"Need to come," Tony moaned, one hand coming up to hang onto Gibb's shoulder. "Need it. Please, Gibbs. Please."

Hot breath tickled Tony's throat and Gibbs's lips brushed his ear. "Then come," he said quietly.

Tony would never have thought that that would be enough, but the knot of tension and heat that had built up inside of him suddenly released and he was coming so hard his breath stopped in his throat. Somewhere in the midst of the shuddering, rolling pleasure of his climax Tony could feel Gibbs bury himself deep and go suddenly still as he came, too.

It was all Tony could do, after, to get his legs down off of Gibbs's shoulders. A soft, involuntary grunt escaped him when Gibbs pulled out, but that was it. A warm hand stroked down his arm and belly, almost petting. Tony turned his head and found Gibbs stretched out next to him, his head propped up with one hand while he ran the other over Tony's body.

Part of Tony insisted he move away from the heavy, possessive touch, but he could still feel that yes ricocheting around inside of him, making it impossible to ignore that he'd wanted Gibbs to own him. He liked knowing that Gibbs wanted him that much, liked that it had been him that drove Gibbs crazy like that. So he didn't bother trying to rouse himself from the satiation that weighed his limbs down, just immersed himself in the general happy glow that always came over him after sex.

"You okay?" Gibbs asked when he saw that Tony was looking at him.

"Sore," Tony admitted. His lips curved up. "But in that good way."

Gibbs chuckled and leaned down for a soft slow kiss. "I'm glad you thought to get ready," he said as he pulled back. A frown touched his expression. "I didn't expect to lose control so badly."

"Hey," Tony said, reaching out to curve his hand around the back of Gibbs's neck. "Don't beat yourself up about it. Everyone had fun." He pulled Gibbs down for another kiss, wet and slick. Tony could never get enough of Gibbs's mouth.

They parted after a long moment. "Everyone?" Gibbs asked, eyes glittering.

Tony laughed. "Two people can be an 'everyone'," he teased.

"We better be," Gibbs muttered, but he seemed more intent on running his hand over Tony's body than on what he was saying.

"I hope you're not expecting me to be able to go again so soon," Tony said lazily, folding his own hands behind his head.

"No," Gibbs smiled down at him. "I just like you naked."

"Glad I can oblige," Tony grinned. And he was.

--End--